A senior North Korean diplomat strongly indicated that his country has no plans to abandon nuclear weapons unconditionally, despite its agreement to return to six-party talks, Japan's NHK TV reported.
North Korea's deputy foreign minister, Kang Sok-ju, speaking to a group of reporters while passing through Beijing from Russia, instead demanded that the US lift financial sanctions against the North.
NHK quoted Kang as saying that North Korea had not tested nuclear weapons only to abandon its program and get rid of them.
"Why would we abandon nuclear weapons?" NHK quoted Kang as saying.
"Are you saying we conducted a nuclear test in order to abandon them?" Kang added.
Asked if Pyongyang planned to demand that the US lift sanctions, Kang said "of course," NHK reported.
It added that the North planned to make the demand in preparatory meetings ahead of the expected resumption of six-party talks on the North's nuclear program.
North Korea's nuclear test, carried on Oct. 9, triggered international condemnations and a series of diplomatic and economic sanctions, with Japan and the US leading the attempt to dissuade Pyongyang from continuing to seek nuclear weapons.
In September last year, the North had agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid.
It withdrew from talks two months later, protesting Washington's financial sanctions over suspected money laundering activities.
Pyongyang said early this month that it was willing to return to the talks, which some analysts believe could resume next month.
Kang was talking at Beijing's international airport on his way home from Russia, which he reportedly visited for unspecified medical treatment.
In Tokyo, government officials said that they could not immediately confirm the report but stressed that Pyongyang cannot be allowed to continue its development of nuclear weapons.
"North Korea has an obligation to give up all nuclear weapons and all existing nuclear programs," said Hiroshi Suzuki, deputy Cabinet secretary.
"The whole purpose of resuming the six-party talks is to make sure that we have tangible progress or concrete results," he said.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS